Donald Trump's legal team has issued its response to the Justice Department's request for a protective order in its January 6 case against the former president.
The request was spurred by Trump's post of his social media platform Friday: "IF YOU GO AFTER ME, I’M COMING AFTER YOU!"
Prosecutors said it clearly referenced participants in the case, and urged that a protective order be put in place limiting what can be shared, and what can be said.
Trump's lawyers claimed too much limitation would infringe on Trump's First Amendment rights.
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Special counsel Jack Smith's motion stated that further behavior similar to Trump's existing conduct could result in "a harmful chilling effect on witnesses."
Trump's response, filed on Monday, says that, "President Trump does not contest the government’s claimed interest in restricting some of the documents it must produce. ...However, the need to protect that information does not require a blanket gag order over all documents produced by the government.
"Rather, the Court can, and should, limit its protective order to genuinely sensitive materials – a less restrictive alternative that would satisfy any government interest in confidentiality while preserving the First Amendment rights of President Trump and the public.”
CNN’s Katelyn Polantz said that Trump's response isn't that different from what prosecutors sought.
“One of the things that the Trump team says is they just don't want a what's called a protective order or a nondisclosure order over all of the evidence that they're getting in the case," Polantz said.
She said the team's filing shows it wants only genuinely sensitive information to be protected.
